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Aleksandra Zaryanova is one of the world's strongest women, a celebrated athlete who sacrificed personal glory to protect her family, friends, and country in a time of war.

Aleksandra was born in a remote Siberian village that was on the front lines of the Omnic Crisis, which began some thirty years ago. Although Russian forces defeated the robots and shut down their omnium, the region was devastated by the conflict. Only a child at the time, Aleksandra was surrounded by the post-war destruction, and as she grew older, she swore that she would gain the strength to help her people recover.

Focusing on weightlifting and bodybuilding, Aleksandra was identified by the national athletics program as a potential star. She trained extensively, moving up the ranks while representing her country, and was expected to shatter longstanding records in the upcoming world championships.

But on the eve of the tournament, an attack came from the long-dormant Siberian omnium, and her village was thrust into war once again. Aleksandra immediately withdrew from the competition and rushed home to enlist in the local defense forces, sacrificing the life of fame and fortune she might have had.

Now she serves—a symbol to some, a stalwart fellow soldier to others. But for Aleksandra, it is a chance to use her great strength to protect the ones she loves.

All seasonal event items, which are marked with special event icons ( • • • • • ), are only available to be unlocked either through their respective Loot Boxes or by Credits within the event's duration.During the event, newly-introduced event items cost three times as much as non-event items of the same rarity, while returning seasonal items are unlocked at the regular price.

aThis emote, after activating, will remain in its animation until the player inputs other actions to interrupt it.

bWhen activated, the Mystery Gift emote will randomly play one of these animations. The "present boxes" emote after activating will remain in its looped animation until the player inputs other actions to interrupt it.

Aleksandra Zaryanova was born in Krasnoyarsk Krai near the inactive Siberian omnium. As a child, she swore to help her town recover from the Omnic Crisis, and turned to weightlifting and bodybuilding. The national athletics program recognized her as she moved up the ranks while representing her country. She entered in the world championships and was expected to shatter records.

Before the championship, the Second Omnic Crisis began. Zarya withdrew from the competition and enlisted in the Russian Defense Forces to defend her hometown. This decision gained her respect and recognition from media across the world, including Богатыри Magazine and Atlas News.

Zarya travels to Lijiang Tower, London, Hanamura, and Numbani in search of Sombra. After finding difficulties, Katya Volskaya hires an Omnic hacker, Lynx Seventeen to assist her with the mission although Zarya doubts the Omnic they eventually find clues to where Sombra's location is which is in Dorado. Zarya changes her views for the Omnic and rescues Lynx during an explosion.

Zarya is very confident and never doubts her strength, often bragging about being the strongest woman in the world. She is quite competitive, yet she praises hard work as well as perseverance and makes references to her training while on the battlefield. She also seems to enjoy making jokes about guns as well as Russia.

Zarya seems to have a biased hatred towards omnics, as shown by her voicelines with Zenyatta, Bastion, Orisa, and even Genji, due to the fact that he is part machine. She also shows her disdain against Numbani's policy of omnics and humans living together equally, saying "The humans who live here (in Numbani) are fools to trust the omnics."

Zarya is a heavily shielded tank that uses barriers to protect herself and her allies.

Her Particle Cannon's linear beam (primary attack) has a short range, while the energy grenade launcher (secondary attack) can reach long ranges but drains ammo much faster.

It is important to note that the primary attack can only hit one target at a time and does not pass through barriers, therefore, it is best to use the alternate fire to deal the highest amount of damage to enemies trapped by Graviton Surge.

Graviton Surge attracts enemies in a 360-degree radius, so she can even attract enemies behind walls, assuming they are still in the range.

Zarya can maximize her DPS by launching a Particle Grenade and using a quick melee at the same time in close combat.

She has lower health than other tanks due to her barriers and her smaller size.

Despite this, Zarya is surprisingly durable - if she hasn't taken damage in the last 3 seconds, her Shield health (the light blue half of her Health bar) will regenerate towards its maximum. This makes her an excellent "off-tank", one who subs in for the "main" tank as their barriers and/or health recuperate; her own Particle Barrier assists nicely with this very task.

Zarya's barriers can be used to save teammates from extreme damage when in close combat with a Reaper or Roadhog. While both deal high damage with their shotgun spreads, the damage will be absorbed, which will not only delay enough time for your teammate to escape, but also raise your charge substantially.

Her passive means that when she blocks damage with a bubble, whether on herself or an ally, the power of her particle cannon will go up (indicated by the circle around the crosshair and the number below this), increasing the damage of both attacks.

Zarya is excellent against turrets since they do not know to stop shooting her when her shield is up. By popping back and forth she can "feed" a full charge from a turret, then use it to destroy the turret.

Putting a shield on a friendly Tracer can allow her to blink through a heavily defended line, potentially forcing the enemy team to scatter.

Zarya will glow depending on how much energy she has - The more, the brighter the glow is, alerting the enemy to seek cover until she has less energy.

The range of the linear beam can be difficult to judge in the first-person view. Watch for the beam pooling into a circle against the target if it is in range.

It is not always necessary to stop shooting Zarya when her shield is up. The shield can be pierced by damage and although shooting the shield increases her charge, killing her sets it to zero.

Zarya's quotes when using a barrier on someone else - such as You're covered, get in there - are somewhat misleading. Due to the short length of time Zarya's shield lasts, it is best used on an ally who is already in battle.

Zarya is somewhat stronger on PC due to the increased difficulty of tracking an enemy with her particle beam on console.

If facing a McCree activating Deadeye, it is actually possible to "hide" behind somebody else's projected barrier (Of course, you will have to provide that) to prevent getting damaged.

Alternatively, a teammate can hide behind a Particle Barrier used on yourself.

Zarya's Particle Barrier does not allow escape from a Steel Trap but protects you temporarily from incoming damage while raising your charge.

Her Barriers are all about timing. The best moments are during a D.Va’s Self-Destruct, Tracer’s Pulse Bomb, or Junkrat’s RIP-Tire. Other high damaging ultimates are good, but these three burst ones grant a lot of energy right away.

After grouping up targets with Graviton Surge, activate your own Barrier and jump right in front of the enemies with your healer like Mercy, or get a Nano Boost from Ana. The enemies will focus all their fire on you, giving you a lot of charge, then spam your bombs onto them to take out the whole lot of them.

Zarya was announced on March 6, 2015, alongside McCree. Before that, she was teased in a tweet from @PlayOverwatch.[2]

Apart from just being a Russian forename, a module on the ISS (International Space Station) that has 2 solar arrays to absorb the solar energy in order to provide power for the station is also called Zarya. Considering the similar properties of the two (module and hero), this could be where the Hero's name came from. Also, in Russian, the name Zarya translates to Dawn.

Zarya's '512' tattoo refers to her weightlifting record of 512 kg (1128.7 lbs).

So far, Zarya is the tallest female character in the game.

Zarya's Russian accent is deliberately exaggerated. If the game's spoken language is actually set to Russian, her accent is substantially softer.

Reading QR code on the cover of Богатыри Magazine will give Zarya's quote "Together we are strong".

Her Particle Cannon has the word 'МСТИТЕЛЬ' written on it, which means 'AVENGER'.

Zarya's last name (Russian: Зарянова) formed afterword 'Заря', which metaphorically means 'the glowing sky during civil twilight' or 'the bright dawn after the darkest night' in Russian and also goes for her code name.

Zarya's 'Ангел смерти' tattoo, featured in the legendary 'Cybergoth' and 'Industrial' skins, means 'Angel of Death' in Russian.

Zarya's voice line "In Russia, game plays you" was a popular joke, "In Soviet Russia..." made by Ukrainian-born American comedian Yakov Smirnoff. The phrase goes after "In Soviet Russia..." is supposed to be a satire joke and contrast of common sense. It now has returned to its spotlight as an internet meme.

Zarya's Voice Line "I Will Break You" is a reference to a line said by the Russian antagonist of Rocky IV, Ivan Drago.

Zarya's voice line "It is only a game, why do you have to be mad?" is a reference to a line spoken by Russian ice hockey goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov during an interview.

Her dance is a reference to The National Aerobics Championship from 1988. [4]

Althrough Zarya is one of the strongest women on Earth, her weight could mean she is one of the few women to build her strength without implants or prothesis.